21 August 2010
QUESTION

I am making a spiderman cake for my son's 3rd birthday, and came across your amazing mad hatter spiderman cake. I would like to do a take on that - using the fondant stripes and spiderman face; I'm not quite ready for the mad hatter concept! I saw your tutorial for striped fondant and will give that a try. Can I use buttercream for the crumb coat before applying the fondant - you mention ganache - and does the cake need to be heavier than a standard box cake mix? Also, how did you make the spiderman face, is that fondant? I feel fortunate to have run across your website and pictures; I'm sorry you're not doing cake anymore - they are tremendous! Many thanks, Melodie


ANSWER

Melodie
I can't advice you on the texture of your cake, as I only bake from scratch. Mud cakes are a lot heavier in texture than other cakes. If you're just going to make a tiered cake, then this shouldn't be an issue that you need to worry about, just as long as the cake you're using, is good enough to stack. In regards to the buttercream, I don't think you can get the same result as you do with ganache. Ganache not only gives you a smooth surface, but a surface which is firm, which means you can get the stripes very close toghether and then you can appy pressure on the cake to smooth the stripes onto eachother.

The spiderman face on the madhatter is made with fondant. It was just squeezed to shape, and smoothed over. The eyes were also fondant, and the stripes were piped on.

31 July 2010
QUESTION

Please help. My daughter wants to make the Lightening McQueen car cake for her son's birthday however we don't want to add the whiskey as the children are only 4 years old. What could we use instead. It looks like an American recipe which is unfamiliar to us, it it like a medeira cake when finished or a victoria sponge?
Could you please assist us. Thank you

ANSWER

Toni, this website is Australian : )
You can replace the whiskey with water, but please note that the flavour will be just slightly different. This cake is extremely rich and heavy, which makes it perfect for carving. It is heavier than a madeira cake.

27 July 2010
QUESTION
I'm new to baking. I do it for funn and as a stress release. But I still want to be good at it.How do you smooth out buttercream icing?

ANSWER
I am by no means an expert in buttercream, I hardly ever use it, my cakes for the last few years have all been done in fondant or chocolate. So by no means am I equipped to give advice. However I have a net friend who is indeed THE QUEEN of buttercream. If you want to improve and perfect your buttercream skills, I recommend you buy this video, it's worth every cent, I have seen the results of people that have used it and the cakes turn out AMAZING!!!

20 July 2010
QUESTION
i would like to try the ur pink shoe, it looks wonderfull,would u have the dimension to the template,and my other question is when i fold the building support will that give me only the heel support, and not where the sole lays, cuz in ur pic. it looks like it goes right out to the sole, but when i fold it. its only the heel. thank you

ANSWER
Fran
The template should print on an A4 sheet of printer paper, however, you can really make the shoe as big or small as you like. It's really up to you. I've made it real life size and also made one which was only 2 inches along the sole :)
In regards to the support, I'm thinking that maybe you may have folded the sole part down towards the back instead of towards the front.

18 June 2010
QUESTION
Hi, your cakes are great and the tips are so useful, thanks so much. Could you post your ganache recipe and method of making? Do you whisk it up so its fluffy or keep it as a liquid? In the past I've used buttercream but ganaching seems to leave such a crisper finish for the edges that I want to try it that way. Help please

ANSWER
Lisa
The ganache is not whipped. For dark chocolate ganache use Callebaut Dark Callets. I use 600mls of cream to 900gms of chocolate. For milk chocolate, I use 600mls of cream to 1200gms of chocolate, and for white, 600mls of cream to 1800gms of chocolate. You need to make the ganache and allow it to cool, so it gets to a spreadable consistency. The brand of chocolate you use will make a difference to the consistency you get, so you will have to play around with the amounts. These amounts work for me when using Callebaut chocolate.

16 November 2009
QUESTION
Hi! Was wondering if you might would know how to go about making a shoe out of buttercream icing, instead of gumpaste or fondant. Thinking it might be easier to do it with gumpaste/fondant, but I'm trying to make one for a little girl, and not sure all the kids would enjoy it as much as they would if it is made with icing. LOL! Thanks in advance!
Oh, also you are reallly talented! Hope to be this good one day myself.

ANSWER
Hi Shonda
I think that the only way you could do such a thing, would be to make a big cake shaped like a shoe and then cover it in buttercream. Most of the time however, these shoes won't be eaten and the receiver of the cake puts the shoe away as a keepsake. You could also just make a buttercream cake with the shoe on top. You'd be surprised at the things kids will enjoy. I had kid's eat sugar flowers off a cake once, and they're not very tasty!!